Yew is extremely tolerant of pruning, spring-early summer is a good time to prune conifers.

bboy -- Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure I understand entirely.Should we trim *some* and in a month trim more -- on and on until it's no longer three feet high? Or do you mean we should just whack off the top third all at once, down to bare branches? (How long would it look perfectly awful if indeed we did that?)

Rejuvenation pruning requires that you cut your plants to the ground (or nearly so). 6 inch stumps is what is usually suggested, though some folks recommend taking them down even further than that.

You should be forewarned that younger plants adapt to this severe method better than very mature ones. However, yew tend to be long lived, regardless.

Rejuvenation pruning tosses the '1/3 rule of pruning' out the window. But it works great for bringing very overgrown and neglected plants into shape.

Hard pruning is best done in March or early April in your area. Lighter trimming to maintain size is done mid July when the plant is semi-dormant and will sprout little if any new growth until the next year. Doing the pruning then means only one trimming per year. I've done this with my yews and it works well. If you look inside your plants you will see the growth is pretty much just an outer shell and if you lop the top foot off they'll be very sparse for 3-4 years. You can try to work your way down to the desired height over several years but chances are some spots will be bald anyway because some plants will be denser further down than others.

tj

you have a lot of them...

pick one end or the other.. and try one or two.. once you finish your research ... if it works... and you dont mind what they will look like for a few years .. then next spring.. have at it .... or remove the two you practiced on ....

there is a big difference between what you 'can' do... and what you 'should' do ... and hacking the heck out of these conifers might not be pretty for up to 5 years ....

as conifers.... rejuvenation pruning of SHRUBS ... MIGHT NOT BE THE PROPER METHOD ....i will leave it to you to research how to do it properly ...

what you are going to end up with.. IMHO .. is stumpy, sparse, ugly plants with big gaping holes that might not be worth looking at for a few years ... yes.. it can be done..

the issue is.. will you be happy about it .... so i caution as to doing the whole line all at once ....

good luck

ken

Thank you ALL for taking time to reply.

I see that I can take about six inches off the top before hitting bare branches. New growth is about two inches of that six. I'm going to try the 'little by little' method first. I'll take this six inches off now, and look again in a few months to see if I can take more.

I hope this will eventually take a foot off the hedge -- perhaps over three years. I wonder...what if we trimmed just AS the new growth starts -- in early April...

It's good to know that yews are pretty sturdy; these a lovely and full right down to the ground. I just need to stay on top of the growth so that this doesn't happen again. Maybe I need to find a really *short* landscaper who won't have to bend over to trim the tops! LOL

Thanks again.

Yew is an exception in that, although it is a conifer, it responds very well to being cut back very hard indeed. You can safely go into the mature wood. I would go ahead and remove a foot in one go. The cut off top will green up by next season.

In my experience the dormant buds take about two years to wake up and then another two years to get growing good. Perhaps it depends on the yew and cultural conditions.

tj

TJ - yes - probably. I only know Taxus baccata in UK conditions ie cool with plenty of rain.

Thanks to flora and tsugajunkie! OK, I am too chicken to lop off a whole foot...and wait to see what happens, when.

I hope the bit-by-bit will be successful, and no more stressful than the wholesale lopping.

You are all so nice to offer suggestions. Much appreciated!